--- title: 'Sales Development Representative - Chicago (Hybrid) - Healthcare at Firstup' canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/sales-development-representative-chicago-hybrid-healthcare-firstup-chicago-5bycmbcaxjr5' type: 'job' last_seen: '2026-10-15' --- # Sales Development Representative - Chicago (Hybrid) - Healthcare at Firstup - **Company:** Firstup - **Location:** Chicago, IL - **Employment:** full-time - **Work type:** hybrid - **Posted:** 2026-10-12 - **Last confirmed live:** 2026-10-15 - **Apply:** https://jobs.lever.co/firstup/15d103ac-0422-4ca1-83d6-d64b1ba88c9e ## Job description ## Who We Are At Firstup, our mission is to improve the employee experience at every moment that matters, large and small. As the communication pipeline for the world's workforce, we now serve 40 of the Fortune 100 companies, reaching and connecting more than 17 million employees daily. Our employees are experts in the employee experience, workforce communications and technology. Joining Firstup means joining a movement to make work better for every worker. As the world’s first intelligent communication platform, Firstup meaningfully engages employees at every moment from hire to retire, and delivers engagement insights to help companies support, promote and retain their talent. Our movement has taken root and is evident in our world-class customer base. Now we need your help. Ready to make a difference in the world? The SDR role at Firstup sits at the intersection of Sales and Marketing. You'll own top-of-funnel pipeline creation for a set of named enterprise accounts, working in close partnership with an Account Executive and aligned Marketing support. Your primary buyers are CHROs, VPs of Internal Communications, and Directors of Employee Experience — senior leaders who control meaningful budget and are actively looking for solutions to workforce engagement challenges. Success here requires business acumen, intellectual curiosity, and the ability to build credibility with executives through relevance and insight — not persistence alone. ## Responsibilities - Build and execute a multi-touch, multi-channel prospecting strategy (phone, email, LinkedIn, video, direct mail) targeting Director through C-suite buyers at named enterprise accounts. - Research target accounts and individual stakeholders to develop insight-led outreach — understanding their business priorities, recent initiatives, and internal communications challenges before making first contact. - Partner closely with your AE to align on account strategy, prioritize opportunities, and convert booked meetings into qualified pipeline. - Collaborate with Marketing to leverage campaigns, events, and content as outreach triggers and conversation starters. - Achieve and exceed monthly and quarterly KPIs including meetings booked, pipeline generated, and connect rates. - Maintain accurate activity logging and pipeline data in Salesforce and Groove, and use data to continuously refine your approach. - Participate actively in team enablement sessions, bringing feedback from the field to sharpen the team's collective messaging and sequencing. - This role will be supporting our Healthcare team. Required Qualifications - 1+ year of SDR, BDR, or outbound sales experience - Demonstrated ability to self-source meetings with senior stakeholders - Strong written and verbal communication skills — executive-ready - Comfort with outreach platforms (Groove, SalesLoft, or equivalent) - High attention to detail in CRM hygiene and activity tracking - Bachelor's degree or equivalent practical experience Strongly Preferred - Experience selling into HR, Internal Communications, or HCM buyers - Familiarity with enterprise SaaS sales cycles and multi-threaded account strategies - Working knowledge of MEDDPICC, Challenger, or similar sales frameworks - Experience with Sales Navigator and intent data tools like HockeyStack - Demonstrated coachability — examples of feedback you received and applied Who Thrives Here The SDRs who excel at Firstup share a specific profile. They are: - Insight-driven, not script-dependent. They do real research before reaching out and lead with business relevance — not feature lists. - Resilient and process-oriented. They understand that pipeline is built through consistent, disciplined execution, and they don't abandon what's working. - Growth-obsessed. They actively seek coaching, ask thoughtful questions in team sessions, and view feedback as currency. - Collaborative by default. They think of their AE as a partner, not just a handoff point, and take accountability for the quality of meetings they book — not just the quantity. - Ambitious with a long-term orientation. They want to build a career in enterprise sales and understand that the SDR seat is the foundation, not the ceiling. Firstup expects the base salary for this role to be an hourly rate between $27.50-$31.25. The starting rate of pay may vary based on factors including, but not limited to, position offered, location, education, training, and/or experience. Why Firstup? Because you care - about people, the work you do, and the connections you make. Work is such a large part of life; it only makes sense to make it awesome. If you want to engage brilliant minds in a high-growth and inclusive environment where ideas are rewarded regardless of who they come from, join us. This is a rapidly changing space so if you thrive on ambiguity, are hungry for a challenge, and have the guts to speak your mind, you could be a perfect fit. We offer an excellent PTO program, great health benefits, a casual and friendly environment, remote work, and a leadership team who truly believes in your growth – both personally and professionally. Firstup is committed to providing equal employment opportunities to all applicants for employment and to all employees, without regard to race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, age, protected disability, veteran status, or any other protected status in accordance with applicable federal, state or local laws. ## #LI-TM1 #LI-Remote ## About Firstup ## Company Overview - **One-liner**: Firstup provides an intelligent communication platform that helps large organizations engage, inform, and activate their workforce through personalized, multi-channel messaging. - **Entity Type**: Private (Series D; total funding $114.8M) - **Headquarters**: San Francisco, California, United States - **Founded**: 2008 - **Founders**: Greg Shove and Nicole Alvino ## Core Business - **Primary industry**: Workforce communications and employee experience software - **Target customers**: Large enterprises with deskless/frontline workers (healthcare, manufacturing, distribution, retail, aviation, etc.) - **Mission/purpose**: "Empower organizations to put their people first" by cutting through communication noise and driving measurable business outcomes. ## Products & Services - **[Firstup Intelligent Communication Platform](https://firstup.io)**: A unified SaaS platform that enables hyper-personalized employee journeys, automated campaigns, and real-time engagement analytics. Includes: - **Employee App**: Mobile-first communication for deskless workers. - **Employee Intranet**: Centralized personalized workspace. - **Employee Email**: Intelligent timing and targeting to break through inbox clutter. - **Digital Signage**: Targeted messages for break rooms and common areas. - **Integrations**: Seamlessly connects with Microsoft, Workday, ServiceNow, and other HR/IT tools. ## Market Standing - **Valuation**: Not publicly disclosed (private company) - **Key Metric**: Annual revenue estimated at $100M (LinkedIn data) - **Total Funding**: $114.8M across 6 rounds, including: - Series D (2016): $25M led by Akkadian Ventures - Series E (2018): $10M led by DTCP - Earlier rounds from Rembrandt Venture Partners and others - **Notable Investors/Partners**: Akkadian Ventures, Rembrandt Venture Partners, DTCP; integrations with Microsoft, Workday, ServiceNow - **Growth Signals**: - Named a **Leader in the 2025 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Intranet Packaged Solutions** - Case study: Swissport unified 45,000 employees across 300 airports with 75% frontline engagement - Case study: Southern Company Gas saved 91K hours and $3.9M - LinkedIn followers grew **101.3% year-over-year** (37,672 followers as of late 2025) ## Competitive Advantages - **AI-powered personalization**: Automates targeted, role-based communication across channels (mobile, email, intranet, signage). - **Frontline-first focus**: Designed specifically for deskless and shift workers, a large underserved segment. - **Proven ROI**: Forrester TEI study quantified improvements in frontline retention, productivity, and safety for a 10,000-employee organization. - **Deep integrations**: Native connections with major enterprise platforms (Microsoft, Workday, ServiceNow) reduce friction. ## Strategic Focus - **AI as a core differentiator**: "AI that works as hard as your workforce" – providing virtual assistants for employees, content creation tools for communicators, and analytics for leaders. - **Expanding in healthcare, manufacturing, and retail** verticals where frontline communication is critical. - **Continued international growth** (offices in London, presence across 8 countries). ## Why Work Here - **Culture & values**: Emphasizes innovation, accountability, transparency, teamwork, and speed. "Be real" (fact-based, authentic feedback) and "operate with pace and urgency." - **Remote/hybrid policy**: Mix of remote-first roles (e.g., UK-based Software Engineer) and hybrid roles (e.g., Chicago Sales Development Representative). Headquarters in San Francisco. - **Benefits**: Paid volunteer days, donation matching program, and a focus on "community" both inside and outside the company. - **Engineering environment**: Roles for fullstack, frontend, mobile UX, and cloud operations; uses AI tools in hiring process. - **Headcount**: Approximately 194–300 employees (conflicting reports: LinkedIn shows 194 with -3.9% YoY decline; Wikipedia states 300). Distributed across 8 countries. ## Sources 1. [firstup.io](https://firstup.io) 2. [Firstup Careers](https://firstup.io/careers/) 3. [LinkedIn Company Page](https://www.linkedin.com/company/firstup-io) 4. [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firstup) ## Other roles at Firstup - [Account Executive (Dubai)](https://feeny.ai/job/account-executive-dubai-firstup-dubai-ze5zk3vfyaeq) — Dubai, United Arab Emirates - [Account Executive (Sweden)](https://feeny.ai/job/account-executive-sweden-firstup-sweden-aw49mt1ppwn0) — Sweden - [Account Executive - Healthcare](https://feeny.ai/job/account-executive-healthcare-firstup-united-states-x28fcyp5xab9) — United States - [Senior Data Engineer (US)](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-data-engineer-us-firstup-united-states-xkdxj61xy54s) — United States - [Head of Digital Marketing](https://feeny.ai/job/head-of-digital-marketing-firstup-chicago-r0pzksgbyf7n) — Chicago, IL - [Account Executive (London, England)](https://feeny.ai/job/account-executive-london-england-firstup-london-jz1c8t7pa86e) — London, United Kingdom - [Senior Data Engineer (UK)](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-data-engineer-uk-firstup-london-ssss4cdw12rj) — London, United Kingdom - [Service Consultant](https://feeny.ai/job/service-consultant-firstup-united-kingdom-kzhyj1c65mge) — United Kingdom - [Account Manager](https://feeny.ai/job/account-manager-firstup-united-states-8r0nss6eh3wf) — United States - [Sr. Software Engineer, Fullstack - Remote](https://feeny.ai/job/sr-software-engineer-fullstack-remote-firstup-united-states-869fkttmghrx) — United States